


Beloved

by amethyst-noir (Arbonne)



Series: Fields of Gold [3]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, F/M, Getting Together, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Multi, OT3, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-04 18:45:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17309918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arbonne/pseuds/amethyst-noir
Summary: A couple of days after their wedding Tony started coughing, soon followed by Pepper. A mild case of Hanahaki disease the doctors all agreed. They both didn't understand until the moment they both were coughing up petals. They were a in a shade of blue Tony had only seen once before in his life - on Titan, when Stephen had transformed a deadly attack into a flock of beautiful and harmless butterflies.Pepper and Tony lose Stephen to Hanahaki's disease but are not willing to accept that.





	Beloved

**Author's Note:**

> [@ironstrangeprompts](https://ironstrangeprompts.tumblr.com/) \- **Prompt #197**  
>  _Tony Stark is preparing to travel back in time to prevent Thanos from winning. He has a list of people to ensure survive, including a Doctor Strange who had died of Hanahaki Disease not long after Tony’s wedding._
> 
> I read that prompt and everything in me screamed _OT3_!!! So, this happened. Title from VNV Nation's _Beloved_ , which is also the soundtrack to this story. (Listen to it, please, it's a wonderful but painful love song.)

"Kiss your bride, Tony, you deserve it."

Tony beamed and Pepper looked equally happy as they both moved forward in perfect synchronicity for their first kiss as husband and wife.

Stephen swallowed the petals down, once again, and only tasted blood. He forced a smile on his face when the kiss had ended and Tony somehow searched out _him_ amongst all the guests to smile at. Pepper followed a second later. Her smile was gentle and loving as she held out her hand to drag him towards them to be in their first official photo as husband and wife.

He didn't have long now, he suddenly realized. Once you tasted blood death was inevitable and in the near future. The love of his life had chosen someone else and the only thing left to do for Stephen was suffering until death. He closed his eyes against the sudden spell of dizziness and swallowed blood once again.

He could _feel_ his heart breaking and it was worse than anything else he'd ever had to endure.

Tony and Pepper were radiant and Stephen, despite everything, could only feel happiness for them. They were _perfect_ for each other, two bright souls that had endured so much and now finally had their happy end. But Tony was his other half and his feelings for Pepper had only grown stronger over the last few months as all the surviving members of the extended Avengers mourned their dead and tried to learn to live again. Stephen was in love with the perfect couple and it was killing him.

He smiled as Tony pushed Pepper into his arms for a dance and he even managed to laugh out loud when Pepper pushed _Tony_ into his arms for another. They were friends, good friends, it was nothing out of the ordinary. If he held on a bit more tightly than he should have during their too short dance it could be blamed on alcohol and emotions. Besides, he could lose himself in the illusion that Tony held him just as tightly.

Stephen vanished from the ceremony as soon as he could, leaving his puzzled and worried friends behind.

The next day Stephen awoke with dried tears on his face and to the by now usual bright red and yellow flower petals on his pillow. But for the first time, since he'd fallen ill with Hanahaki disease, they were flecked with blood.

*

A couple of days after their wedding Tony started coughing, soon followed by Pepper. A mild case of Hanahaki disease the doctors all agreed. They both didn't understand until the moment they both were coughing up petals. They were a in a shade of blue Tony had only seen once before in his life - on Titan, when Stephen had transformed a deadly attack into a flock of beautiful and harmless butterflies.

*

"Stephen, I'm so sorry." Tony looked down and had to swallow back the tears that threatened once again. Instead he took Stephens shaking hand into his own and tried to instill some warmth. On the other side of the bed Pepper did the same. She didn't even try to hide her tears as she gently brushed a strand of hair from Stephen's face before kissing his forehead. He wasn't even coughing anymore, just weakly struggling to breathe as his lungs filled up with blood and more and more of those damned petals

 _Why didn't you tell us? We could have helped, I love you. **We** love you._ Tony didn't ask the questions, it didn't matter anymore. By the time he and Pepper had realized what was happening - and why Stephen had distanced himself after their wedding - it was too late.

They both had taken Stephen in immediately and had hoped against hope that there might be a chance. But the disease was too advanced, Stephen's body to weak and depleted, and now it was only a matter of time until it was over. All the tears, all the promises, all the regret and all he love in the world couldn't stop it now.

Stephen Strange drowned in Tony's arms with Pepper whispering in his ear how much they loved him and begging him please hold on for just a little bit longer. There might have been a slight smile on his face as he went but Pepper and Tony were never quite sure and too busy mourning to find any comfort in the thought.

*

_Doctor Stephen Strange  
Beloved for all eternity._

A butterfly made out of jade with a silhouette out of a gold/titanium alloy was the only other decoration on the gravestone. If the sun hit it in just the right way it shimmered in almost the same color as Stephen's eyes.

There were not enough words in the world to describe even a fraction of what Stephen had been and so many more things that had to remain a secret forever. Tony longed for a 'Stark' after 'Strange' but in the end there hadn't even been enough time for that. He and Pepper had made their vows to him but they were not even sure if Stephen had been able to hear or understand them in those final, agonizing days.

Their Hanahaki had faded to a persisted cough after a few months, thanks to their deep and enduring love for each other, but the sadness never left.

 _It'll get better with time. Once you have kids you'll start to heal in earnest_ , they'd heard over and over again but despite trying and wishing they never managed to conceive. Something - _someone_ \- was missing and could never be replaced.

*

The plan grew out of pure desperation. Desperation and sorrow and the knowledge that they had to _fix_ it. Everything. They had to stop Thanos - before he destroyed half the world before being killed himself - and they had to save so many people.

They had to save Stephen. They had promised him always and forever and now it was their duty to fulfill that vow.

Tony looked over the list, once again. He knew it by heart, of course. All the names of the people that had died and shouldn't have. Steve Rogers, Bruce and Wong were amongst them, hidden between a couple of dozen other people. Stephen's name wasn't on the list, he was the main reason _for_ the list.

"Ready?" Tony asked and by his side Pepper nodded before taking his hand into a strong grip. They both were wearing the most advanced Nano-Tech suits Tony had ever conceived - Pepper's was silver and blue while Tony's was in his customary red and gold. Despite those being the colors of the damned petals that had killed him Stephen had sworn that he loved them until the very end. Tony could barely look at them now but every other color scheme on the suit had looked wrong and felt like an betrayal. So red and gold it was. _For Stephen_ , he reminded himself over and over again.

"Ready," she confirmed before she pulled him in for a kiss. "Let's get him back." She shook her head, annoyed at her slip. "Let's get _them_ back", she corrected herself but Tony just took her into the tightest embrace he could manage before kissing her. 

"For Stephen," he whispered. At least between the two of them there was no illusion why they were doing it. "I'll get to kiss him first."

Pepper smiled at him. "Only if you're faster than me in getting to him."

They didn't need any more words between them. The both activated their helmets while Carol and Rocket, helped by FRIDAY, started the cobbled together mess of Asgardian and Earth technology, generously garnished with tech salvaged by the Guardians from all over the galaxy, that would allow two people to travel into the past and stop Thanos before he could unleash destruction on the universe.

A past where Stephen Strange was still alive, healthy and waiting to meet the other two thirds of his soul.

* 

Stephen didn't understand. He could have sworn that in one moment there had just been Stark and the Spiderling with him on the ship and in the next moment there suddenly was the one and only Pepper Potts, fully armored and ready for battle, and Stark had a completely different suit that somehow seemed even sleeker and more powerful than the one he'd been wearing a heartbeat ago.

Stephen could sense the rearrangement of the timeline, of course, but he didn't know why and there hadn't been any time for a talk before Potts and Stark had landed the ship on Titan. When they both had retraced their helmets and Stephen saw their faces he _knew_.

"How long?" he asked, more harshly then intended. "Do you idiots even know what you're doing?"

Pepper - and they became 'Pepper' and 'Tony' for him in that exact moment - smiled at him with infinite sadness while Tony reached out only to not make contact at the last moment. "Ten years," he finally said and Stephen couldn't even begin to understand the way these older versions of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts looked at him. And why at least one of them was nearly constantly by his side, not very subtly protecting him. 

"We know _exactly_ what we're doing and we would appreciate it if you'd just _listen_ to us," Pepper added.

"Trust us," Tony begged him while Pepper stood between them, silently pleading the same.

There had been tears in both their eyes and Stephen didn't understand anything, not even when the first coughing fit hit him a couple of minutes later. Tony was immediately by his side, eyes wide with panic and fear. "You okay?" he asked while holding on to Stephen's shoulders. "It's just the damn dust in the air, right? Take a deep breath, it'll pass." 

Weakened from the torture and the sudden coughing Stephen gratefully leaned into the contact and even dared to rest his head against Tony's shoulder. Somehow he ended up in an embrace that felt rather nice if he was honest with himself.

He missed Tony's pained grimace and the desperate look he shared with Pepper. They both knew that it wasn't the dust, of course. _We love you_ , he silently assured Stephen once again. _It just started. We still have time._ He dared to gently stroke over Stephen's back once while Pepper looked on with slight jealousy. She badly wanted to caress Stephen, too, but it was too early for that. Stephen did know her even less than he did Tony after all. 

The sudden arrival of Thanos, followed by his even more sudden defeat, forced them all to concentrate on other things anyway.

*

The real surprise - and shock - hit him back on Earth, when Tony and Pepper didn't take multiple 'no's' for an answer and dragged him with them to their penthouse apartment.

He was even more surprised when, after a few careful and tearful explanations, he was presented with the video evidence from a now dead future that showed how close they all had become. The YouTube video of Tony Stark having a complete breakdown in a sobbing Pepper Pott's arms during Doctor Stephen Strange's funeral was surreal and Stephen didn't know how to react.

But he somehow wasn't surprised when he ended up with a crying Tony in his arms while an also crying Pepper embraced him from behind and told him about how much they loved him. "Please, please, believe us", she begged over and over again while Tony shivered and almost broke Stephen's ribs with his embrace.

"Don't leave us," he murmured over and over again. The 'again' hung unspoken in the air.

Despite the pressure on his lungs it had never been easier to breathe and Stephen smiled at both of them as something that suspiciously felt like happiness stole over him.

It was Tony after all who got to kiss him first but Pepper was only a couple of seconds behind.

*

It took surprisingly little time to rearrange his life to accommodate two more people in it. Wong smiled at him when he appeared late in the morning for breakfast, covered in bitemarks and bruises and sardonically asked if he'd been attacked by a vampire or a werewolf or both. Pepper was the one who loved to mark him with love bites, while Tony loved to hold on tightly enough to leave bruises. They both also tended to put Stephen in the middle and he almost always woke up with at least one of them in bed, holding on to him. He was told the he was loved multiple times a day. In words, in gestures, in looks, _everything_. It should have become exhausting and annoying in short time but it somehow never did.

Everytime some last shred of stupid resistance tried to poison his happiness he forced himself to remember how all their lives would have turned out otherwise. Over time the voice inside of him stayed still for longer and longer periods until it finally faded away into nothing.

Pepper and Tony were deathly afraid of losing him again, that was clear, and the desperation and fear they looked at him with every time he coughed or had trouble breathing for even a moment was heartbreaking and only slightly eased over the years.

'Strange' appeared more and more often mixed in in official documents containing 'Stark' and 'Potts', until eventually, and hidden from the public eye, it merged to 'Strange-Potts' with 'Stark' only staying as the name of the company.

It was risky, considering Pepper's age and everything else, but they tried anyway. Paternity tests where for other people, they didn't care in the least. Their first daughter had brown eyes while their second daughter, born only a little bit over a year later, had grey-blue-green ones. Both girls were extremely clever and demonstrated a disturbing amount of talent for engineering as well as magic from a young age.

Neither their mother nor their fathers had ever been happier in their lives.

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](https://amethyst-noir.tumblr.com/) ❤ [Dreamwidth](https://arbonne.dreamwidth.org/)  
> The usual Ironstrange service will resume very soon. But drpepperony is my OT3 and it's been too long since I wrote it.


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